Here you will find the Ramblings of an overly enthusiastic, overly stressed, and overly verbose Mad Stitcher. I will be sharing my thoughts on life, stitching, books, travels and generally anything that pops into my mind. You will also be able to read my little stories. I love to write short stories of all types and will enjoy sharing them with you here.
Come join me for a laugh or two and maybe a tear or two as well.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

A Few years ago I became enamored with Crazy Quilting. I simply love it. Pam Kellogg of Kitty and Me Designs was the first I had really noticed and I began following her blog religiously. I wanted to do this also. So I made plans and started collecting fabrics and laces and trims and ribbons and fibers, and beads and charms and...and... well you get the idea. However I could never make myself start one. I was terrified of piecing the fabrics--not the embellishing! Can you believe that? If I didn't have a pattern to follow I wasn't sure how to begin. And I kept procrastinating.

I am afraid of Crazy Quilting! Yes...I have finally admitted it.
I know the basics. I can sew. I know the specialty stitches used for
seam treatments and I love to embellish. I have been an avid cross
stitcher for more years than I care to admit and have become addicted to
specialty stitches. But for some reason the thought of putting all
these things together and actually doing it as a Crazy project is just
overwhelming to me. So what did I do? you ask. Well what any normal
cross stitcher would do. I improvised!I
designed a cross stitch/specialty stitch design that looks like Crazy
Quilting! I decided if I can do it on cross stitched fabric then I can
do it on regular fabric. So here it is: (It matches my Ipod)

And here it is in RED! Stitched for a friend--I just love this one.

It
is the Flutterby Garden Pocket and it is a bit unusual but I love it.
It is an IPod/Cell phone pocket with two different looks. I first
stitched the basic design (I used this for the back side) and then began to add embellishments to
give it a bit of Zing! (For the front). It was easy to use what I had on hand--fibers,
ribbons, lace, buttons, charms, beads, pearls. As you can see I
added a tatted butterfly to mine! Just use your imagination![After
I finished it, I decided to make it available for others--both cross
stitchers and crazy quilters! I have included some seam treatment
suggestions and finishing instructions for this as well as the cording
and tassel making instructions. This pocket is very versatile. It
can be used not only for your IPod or cellphone but also for your
credit cards/cash, your keys, Driver's License or anything else you
like! Just send me an email for more info.]

Now it is years later and I still love Crazy quilting and I still have the plans and urge to do some of it. So stay tuned to see what I do this time.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Today is release day for my newest design--French Elegance II. This one was so much fun to design and to stitch. Please check it out over on Lady K Needlearts. I am now working on another one. Can't seem to slow down once an idea takes form. I will share when I can.

In other news... I have been adding lots of charts, fabrics and other things over on eBay so please check it out. My name there is madstitcherdesigns. I have really been clearing out stash and have barely touched the surface. After all I have been collecting for 45+ years!! At the moment it is mostly charts and quilting fabrics but I will also be adding cross stitch fabrics, fibers, etc. as soon as I finish going through the charts. I may also add some books as my library has been growing exponentially also.

I know I promised photos of my quilt project but I haven't had a chance to get the camera out yet. But I will...hopefully this weekend. There is just so much I want to do and not enough time in the day to do it all. .

Back in October I told you I finished a consigned piece for Denise but forgot to take a photo of it finished before mailing it off. Well she was kind enough to send me a photo of it all framed up and I love it. It is a Norman Rockwell painting charted out and is solidly stitched.

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About Me

I am a retired nurse that has become a professional stitcher. I model stitch for several well known designers as well as doing consignment stitching. I have recently begun my own design company--Lady K Needlearts-- and have several cross stitch designs available. I am a widow and have an adult son who is the light of my life.

Stitched Needlework Art & Consignment Pieces

SPECIAL ORDER only!

The MadStitcher now offers consignment stitching and Needlework Art pieces for sale. Needlework Art is completely stitched, but not framed or finished needlework design pieces, unless otherwise noted. These are heirloom quality needlework pieces which are stitched on high quality fabrics.

The pieces are ready to frame or finish. They can be taken to your local needlework shop or frame shop for appropriate finishing. All pieces will come to you with a list of suggestions and ideas for finishing and/or displaying the piece.

All will arrive with a certificate stating the design name, company name, the designers name, who stitched the piece and the year purchased.

*** Consignment pieces will not be stitched until ordered with a 1/2 of the price down payment, which can be made by cashier's check, money order or by using PayPal. The pieces will take anywhere from 2-9 months to stitch. Please ask for length of stitching time estimates. You may make payments each month based upon the estimated time for stitching, again please ask for details. Payment if full is expected before the piece is mailed.

Once an order has been placed, the first payment has to be made before the stitching will commence. The first payment is for buying the stitching supplies and therefore is non-refundable unless agreed to by me and a 10% cancellation fee will be applied.

Personalizing pieces such as wedding samplers, birth samplers and Christmas Stockings, are included in the cost. However, if other pieces are personalized an extra charge will be added. Finishing is also extra. No framing will be done.

Samplers which normally have the needle workers initials and the date stitched will be stitched using the initials of the stitcher and the date completed.

For pricing and more information about consignment stitching please email me at kathy@madstitcher.com.